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Farrell was a highly respected source of insight on the mortgage bond market and his comments on the quarterly Annaly calls, as well as his quarterly "insights" posts on Annaly's website, were closely watched. With Farrell at the helm, Annaly's stock has been a monster performer since its late-90s IPO. However, it does look like the company is being left in capable hands.

Anand Chokkavelu, CFA has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Fool contributor Matt Koppenheffer has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Annaly Capital Management. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.